


Closure

by emerdoods



Category: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes
Genre: Big Reveal spoilers obviously, Feelings, Lovers to Enemies to Friends, Self-Reflection, boxman isn't a player in this but he's definitely mentioned, i just want KO's family to get along and I'm projecting, short and sweet (like REALLY short), this is NOT carol x pv
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:01:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21749479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emerdoods/pseuds/emerdoods
Summary: This was weird. They were talking like they were old college buddies, and she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about it. Normally she’d have wanted to smash his smug purple face into the asphalt of the plaza parking lot, but now… she felt what she could only describe as some sort of weird nostalgia for something they’d never even had: an honest friendship.
Relationships: Lord Boxman/Professor Venomous
Comments: 3
Kudos: 90





	Closure

He’d just needed to clear his head. He hadn’t anticipated her being there. She’d kept her distance at first. He hadn't even noticed her until she approached him 20 minutes after he’d sat down. 

“What are you doing here?”

Professor Venomous spun around on the barstool. Carol Kincade, formerly Silver Spark, stood with one hand on her hip, the other gripping a cup of ice water, and a sour look on her face.

“It’s the Neutral Zone, Sparks. Last I checked, this dive didn’t have a heroes-only policy. What are _you_ doing here?”

“Girls night,” she shrugged. “With the ladies from the dojo. Everyone else left a while ago, but I’m driving so I wanna wait a little while longer.”

He spun back around to face the bar, waving his hand dismissively. “As you were, I guess.”

Carol scoffed, sliding onto the stool to his right. “Oh no, you’re not shaking me that easily. I can see the gears in your head turning. Just what nefarious plot do you have in the works?” 

“I’m not plotting anything. If I was doing something for work I’d be at my lab. Besides, It's none of your business,” he said, throwing back what was probably too much of his second screwdriver. 

“Whatever.” She started to climb down, but at that moment, something inexplicable came over Venomous.

“Wait, Sparks...I’m sorry.”

She almost choked on the ice cube she’d been sucking on. “What?”

“You were trying to talk to me, and I pushed you away... That's something I'm trying to work on -- not pushing people away.” 

Carol blinked, stunned. This was unprecedented. Even before turning to villainy, the man had never been one for introspection. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could --

“Did we love each other?” he asked.

“I… I don’t know,” she said hoarsely. She felt like she'd been hit by a bus.

Venomous stared at the bottom of his now empty glass. “Yeah, me neither. We were pretty stupid, huh?”

“We were in our twenties. Stupid was part of the territory,” she sighed. “Even if things had gone down differently, I think… I think I’ve always known we wouldn’t have lasted. We were a bad match. You know, I idolized you before we met. For the longest time, you were this safe, unattainable crush. In my imagination, you were perfect. It was a recipe for disaster. I never really knew the real you.”

“You wouldn’t have liked him very much.”

“Well _duh_ , I see that now,” she pouted.

He couldn’t help but laugh. Carol tried to recall what his laugh had been like before, but was at a loss. He’d laughed back at P.O.I.N.T, hadn’t he? If he had, it hadn’t been this real. There was something hiding behind that laugh, though, she thought. Was he...nervous?

“You shouldn’t beat yourself up about it. Maybe your expectations weren’t healthy, but I was just a jerk. I was so emotionally stunted --”

“ _You_? No way!” she elbowed him in the ribs, maybe a little harder than she needed to.

But there was that nervous laugh again.

“Hey, I’m trying to be earnest, here. I was a bad teammate, I was a bad partner. I needed professional help, but I just dumped everything on you, then got bitter when you tried to be supportive. And maybe worse, even though you were objectively more powerful, I was in a position of authority; pursuing a relationship with you was incredibly unprofessional.” 

“Well… like I said. Making mistakes is part of growing up. All we can do now is hope our kids do better.”

“Should be easy,” the professor dropped eye-contact. “I set the bar pretty damn low.”

This was weird. They were talking like they were old college buddies, and she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about it. Normally she’d have wanted to smash his smug purple face into the asphalt of the plaza parking lot, but now… she felt what she could only describe as some sort of weird nostalgia for something they’d never even had: an honest friendship. 

“Venomous, can I ask you something?”

“Hm?”

“If you’d known about K.O, would you have stayed?” 

“I… don’t know. I have regrets,” he paused and turned to face her “but ultimately, leaving isn’t one of them. You said yourself, we were never going to work. I would have been miserable, and I think I would have dragged you and the kid down with me. Things worked out for the best, I think. And I don’t mean to undervalue the work you did as a single parent. I know _exactly_ how hard --”

“It’s okay. I understand what you’re saying. K.O. and I... we're happy. And wasting time on hypotheticals is stupid when I wouldn’t trade what I have for anything else. For what it’s worth, I’m happy for you, too.”

“What?”

“Listen,” Carol began, “ I don’t condone your career path, but look at you. You’re thriving. Being a villain suits you more than being a member of P.O.I.N.T. ever did. When I see you and Boxman together, you seem like you _get_ each other. And while, yeah, Laserblast probably wouldn’t have been a good dad, Professor Venomous seems like he’s doing an alright job with that little girl he raised. I don’t know if you’d recognize it, but it looks to me like you have things pretty much figured out. What I _don’t_ understand is why you’re out here drinking alone at one in the morning, when you should be in bed with your dumb cyborg boyfriend.”

Venomous slumped forward with a huff. “Sparks…” But Carol just looked at him expectantly. “I’m going to propose tomorrow. Or today, I guess. It’s not that I'm having second thoughts, I'm just scared I guess. Commitment hasn’t really been my thing, historically. But I want to take couples ballroom dancing classes. I want to fund his kids’ startups. I want to plan elaborate family vacations. I want to grow old with him. Is that stupid?”

“No. It’s just stupid mushy.” She slid her half-full glass of water over to him, and hopped down from the bar. “I think I’ve been sober for a while now. You should hydrate if you’re driving, too. The bar closes in less than an hour.” It was curt, but he knew she wouldn’t have said anything if she didn’t care about him at least a little bit.

“Hey Carol?” If memory served, that was the first time he’d ever used her real name. “Thanks. This was nice. We should call a truce and grab coffee sometime. I’ll buy.”

“Just invite me and Eugine to the wedding.”

“You don’t know that Boxman will say yes.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sure I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading! I'm not much of a writer but I wanted to write about two of my favorite characters getting a little closure because it's what they deserve.


End file.
